1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication device capable of wireless communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
Communication systems capable of network connection by wireless communication between multiple communication devices, such as computer devices having communication functions, have become popular as information processing technologies have become more advanced.
Such communication systems are specified in, for example, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (for example, refer to International Standard ISO/IEC 8802-11:1999(E) ANSI/IEEE Std 802.11, 1999 Edition, Part II: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications) and IEEE 802.15.3.
“Ad hoc networks” over which communication devices directly and asynchronously perform the wireless communication have been developed as one type of networks utilizing the above communication systems. The ad hoc communication systems have no control station and are suitable for, for example, home networks including household electric appliances (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-165930).
In order to detect wireless communication devices around the own device and to know the behaviors of the wireless communication devices, such an ad hoc networks employs a method of defining a time area in a predetermined superframe as a beacon period between the wireless communication devices belonging to the network group of the own device and sharing the timings in the beacon period between the wireless communication devices belonging to the network group to ensure connection between the wireless communication devices belonging to the network group.
In the above ad hoc network, it is important to set the timings in the beacon period defined between the wireless communication devices in the network group of the own device such that the beacon transmission positions (beacon slots) of the own device do not coincide with the beacon transmission positions of other wireless communication devices.
Since the beacons communicated between the wireless communication devices in the network group of the own device are concentrated on one time in the beacon period, there is a need to manage the beacon periods to determine all the wireless communication devices in the network.